By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
Drivers crossing over the John F. Kennedy Boulevard Bridge into Sea Isle City may have noticed two of the police department’s newest crime-fighting tools.
Mounted on a light pole are two innocuous-looking cameras that allow police to automatically scan the license plates of vehicles both entering and leaving town on Sea Isle’s main artery.
Sea Isle also has license plate reading cameras on the Townsends Inlet Bridge connecting the southern tip of the island with neighboring Avalon.
High-speed technology allows the automated cameras to capture and store computer-readable images of license plates in a centralized database accessible to law enforcement.
“We can go back and search to see if a vehicle was in town and what time it left or came in and we are able to share that information with other police departments around the state,” Sea Isle Police Chief Anthony Garreffi said in an interview.
Previously, Sea Isle had license plate readers that used older technology that only allowed the police department to store the information in-house, Garreffi noted.
In addition to the cameras on the JFK Boulevard and Townsends Inlet bridges, Sea Isle also has mobile license plate scanners in five police department vehicles.
Garreffi explained that the mobile units will alert police if, for instance, the owner of a vehicle is wanted for a crime. Among other things, the technology also lets police connect to a database that will show if a vehicle has been stolen or has traffic violations.
The license plate readers simply ignore the vehicles if nothing is wrong, Garreffi explained.
“It only tells us what the police need to know,” he said.
In 2022, Gov. Phil Murphy announced the investment of $10 million in automated license plate readers to give New Jersey police departments “additional tools” to address an increase in motor vehicle thefts and violent crime occurring in both suburban and urban areas.
Sea Isle’s license plate scanners are among the city’s broader strategy to prevent or respond to crimes.
SeaIsleNews.com published a story on Feb. 1 about the city’s plan to install a total of 16 surveillance cameras on the oceanfront Promenade, in the downtown bar district and at a municipal playground to help prevent large groups of rowdy teenagers or young adults from disrupting the busy summer tourism season. Sea Isle to Keep Watch This Summer With New Surveillance Cameras | Sea Isle News
The city hopes to have the surveillance cameras installed by the end of February and fully operational for the summer. The cameras will provide a live feed directly to the police department and will operate on a 24-hour basis.
Like other shore towns, Sea Isle dealt with an outbreak of teen mischief that disrupted parts of the 2021 and 2022 summer vacation season with foul language, underage drinking, vandalism and theft.
By month’s end, Mayor Leonard Desiderio plans to unveil new local laws that will give Sea Isle police officers more power to take juvenile offenders into custody instead of simply giving them warnings for breaking minor laws.
